


Incandescence

by sadhuening



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Barebacking, Bottom Huening Kai, Choi Soobin Is Bad At Feelings, Dirty Talk, Dom Choi Soobin, Edgeplay, Fantasy, First Meetings, Grinding, M/M, Open Ending, Smut, Sub Huening Kai, Top Choi Soobin, Wax Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:28:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23347690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadhuening/pseuds/sadhuening
Summary: "I don't want to die," he speaks, with an unnerving self-awareness. "But I'm not afraid of dying and I won't avoid the risk – or even the apparent certainty of it – when I think the experience will at least be… titillating.""You're a pretty brave one. Weird, and taking your life for granted, but brave.""Not fearing death doesn't make me brave. Overcoming something that does frighten me would be brave. But nothing frightens me.""Why not?""Because everything is temporary."(Soobin feels old. The years are starting to blend together. Everything feels the same. He can't remember the last time he wasn't bored by someone or something. It feels like the world around him has gotten duller. The colors are faded, the sounds are less crisp, the edges of shapes are blurred, the light is dim, the tastes are bland, touches are too soft to be felt. He just feels empty. Feels like he's living, just because he can. Not because he should. Not because he wants to.But this boy in front of him, with his innocent light-brown eyes and soft curls and warms hands, makes him wants to live again, one more time.)
Relationships: Choi Soobin & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin & Huening Kai, Choi Soobin/Huening Kai
Comments: 20
Kudos: 339





	Incandescence

"…. _learned to live half alive…_ ”

"….an elderly woman disappeared from her home without a trace. Her granddaughter found nothing but ash in her bed. Believers claim this occurrence is the latest example of SHC: Spontaneous Human Combustion. Of course no—"

"…. _in the master's chambers, they gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast…_ "

"—here in City of Seoul. A man was attacked by a group of vigilantes who claimed he was a vampire. This has been a recurring problem. Groups of people are patrolling the streets at night, harassing people, looking for vampires! We live in a world where adults believe in fairy tales, how laughable—"

"Why are you making me listen to this bullshit, Yeonjun?" Soobin wonders with a grumble and takes one hand off the steering wheel to reach for the dial he had allowed his friend to play with.

The blue-haired quickly beats him to it and changes the channel back to the soft rock song that played earlier.

_"….you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…"_

Soobin squeezes his cold fingers around the steering wheel, hearing the leather crinkles.

Yeonjun drums his fingers on his thighs, accompanying the guitar solo. "I think it's interesting. It's fascinating how people's minds work, how they see the world around them and react to what they see and try to explain it all. And when they can't explain it, they fight it."

"It's all the same. Nobody has a unique thought nowadays. They have nothing but a copy of an old original; grainy, faded and distorted. But everyone feels the need to force the image onto the world. Share it. Tweet it. Make a Youtube video about it. The more likes they get, the more validated they feel and the behavior escalates from there."

"Seems like I caught you in a mood," Yeonjun observes in a low mumble and averts his gaze out the side window to shamelessly stare at the man in the car next to them as they are caught in downtown traffic.

"People are assholes, Yeonjun," The driver insists. "And they are encouraged to be assholes. Everyone thinks they are so fucking special, with their _likes_ and _retweets_." He snorts the words that are still unfamiliar to his mouth. "Their pretentious lives as herd animals are validated and the behavior escalates from there. They haven't evolved one bit. We're one news-story removed from reliving the with-trial days."

The blue-haired in the passenger seat snickers. "Maybe you've just been a cabbie for too long. You should think about another career switch. The change will be good for you."

"This is just another thing to spend my boredom off. I've been everything and I've been everything for too long."

"There must be something new out there that you haven't tried."

"Nothing that excites me."

Yeonjun sighs. "Don't be like that. You have to make the best of things. You think you have it rough? What about me? You have to keep an open mind, that is all. Learn new things."

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"You're not even that old," Yeonjun chastises.

"I feel old…" Soobin mutters and his heart feels heavy. "The years are starting to blend together. Everything feels the same. I can't remember the last time I wasn't bored by someone or something. Every person I meet reminds me of someone from the past, someone more interesting. Every song I hear reminds me of an old song, a better song. It's been so long since I've encountered something that I haven't seen before. I feel like the world around me has gotten duller. The colors are faded, the sounds are less crisp, the edges of shapes are blurred, the light is dim, the tastes are bland, touches are too soft to be felt."

"You're so dramatic," Yeonjun says lightheartedly, but with a sideway glance, Soobin can see the genuine concern in his eyes.

"I feel empty, Yeonjun," He admits, watching the first droplets of the predicted rainfall on the windshield. The wipers responded automatically as the downpour started. "I feel like I am living, just because I _can_. Not because I should. Not because I want to." He nods at the radio and even though commercials are on at the moment, he quotes the song that had previously played: "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

"Jesus Christ, Soobin, don't say shit like that. You're scaring me!"

He takes his hands off the steering wheel and scrubs his tired face. "I'm sorry."

"Maybe—" He bits his lip in hesitation. "Maybe it's been too long since you've… 'gone dancing'. You always get grumpy when you wait too long."

Soobin casts a glance in his rear-view-mirror at his dull, tired, amethyst eyes. It’s been a while, but he is surprised his friend brought it up. "You hate it when I 'go dancing'."

"Yes." He looks away. "But I know you need it."

"It has been a while," He concludes, after counting the days in his head. "But what I'm feeling – or rather; what I'm not feeling – goes beyond that."

"Still. I think you should go. Soon. It could help."

The driver smiles bitterly.

"I can't stand the thought of losing you, Soobin." Yeonjun fidgets with the frayed hem of his nightshirt. "You're all that I have."

Soobin nods. He is aware of the responsibility. Although Yeonjun might have been better off without him, so he can move on, the blue-haired doesn’t want to let go and it wouldn't be fair of Soobin to force it before he is ready to go on his own accord. He doesn’t want to let down his friend. Yeonjun has always supported him, even at times when he doesn't deserve his support, much less his kindness, acceptance, or love.

Unexpectedly the back door on the driver's side opens and a man in a soaked business-suit, holding his briefcase over his head to protect his salon-styled hair, climbs into the vehicle. He takes a seat in the back and leans towards the opening in the pane of acrylic separating the front and back of the car. "208 Park Avenue," He orders, before sitting back. No 'hello'. No 'please'. "And make it fast."

The cabbie rolls his eyes and gestured at the packed traffic surrounding them. "Would you like me to ram them out of the way or switch to flight-mode?"

Yeonjun laughs heartedly.

The businessman regards his driver with wild eyes. He leans forward again to read his ID on the dashboard. "You ought to be more mindful of your attitude, mister Kim. I'm a very important man. You wouldn't want me to call your supervisor. One phone call and I can have you fired."

"Impressive. All I was ever able to achieve with a single phone call was have pizza delivered. And it was twenty minutes late."

"Soobin," Yeonjun warns, but he laughed nevertheless.

The businessman's gaze is incredulous. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No, sir. And if we are going to measure importance based on how much we know of one another, as a way to determine how much respect is due, I think I have the upper hand. Because I know nothing about you, yet you know my full name, my ID number, what I do for a living and even how to get in touch with my boss." He ignores his friend who is playfully punching his shoulder.

"You lowlife piece of scum! I'll be taking my business elsewhere. And your supervisor will be hearing from me!" He kicks the door open and awkwardly crawls out of the car. He doesn't shut the door.

"Asswipe." He calls over his shoulder: "Enjoy the rain!" He watches him scurry to a different cab in his side mirror.

Yeonjun wordlessly shuts the door for him before the backseat would get drenched by the rain.

Soobin laughs when his friend reappears in the passenger seat and glares at him. "What? You just told me it was time for me to find a new job anyway."

"That doesn't mean you should be this careless. You need to, I don’t know, pay your rent or something."

"Yeah, unlike _you_."

"That's not fair, Soobin. Just because I don't have to worry about that stuff doesn't mean I have it easy."

"I know. I know. I'm sorry." he says softly. “Don’t worry about me, you know I don’t have any problem with money. I just do this to fill the time, it could be boring sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Neither of them says anything for a while. They listen to the radio and the honking of cars around them as the drivers get increasingly frustrated with the immobile traffic.

"I guess I should go," Yeonjun announces. "I'm starting to feel tired. I should rest."

Soobin agrees wordlessly.

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah," He croaks.

"So you'll 'go dancing' tonight?"

"My shift doesn't end 'til five and then I have to hurry home to crash. I'll go tomorrow night."

"Promise me you'll be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

He flashes him a grin. "I'll try."

"I'm serious, Soobin. Times have changed. You have to protect yourself."

"I know what I'm doing, _mom_. Stop worrying."

Yeonjun nods reluctantly.

Without either of them saying goodbye, Soobin is left alone in the car. His dark eyes follow the movement of the windshield wiper. Back and forth. Back and forth. Finally the traffic jam dissolves and he continues his shift.

Around midnight most of his fares consist of couples, returning home from their dates. They pay him little attention, most too absorbed in one another, completely overwhelmed by passion and love, others lost in their own headspace, ignoring him as much as they did their partner. He fiddles with the dial of the radio a couple of times, extracting some amusement from finding appropriate soundtracks to accompany the moments, grinning whenever someone shoots him a look through the rear-view mirror. Honestly, what do people expect? That he can't see them back there? That he doesn't notice that one guy's hand disappearing under his girlfriend's skirt? Or the shift in her expression; from horrified to ecstatic?

In the wee hours of the night the demographic of his customers' changes. These are the clubbers. Pairs of drunk boys and groups even drunker girls. Guys only ever get into the cab two at a time. Sometimes as many as four girls stash themselves into the backseat and sometimes a fifth is bold enough to ask if she can ride shotgun. He never makes any objections. He can easily tune them out. On occasion, the guy's rumbling laughter or the girl's incessant giggles can tug at the corners of his mouth, but mostly it made him jealous. When had he last laughed with wild abandon?

In the morning, near the end of his shift, he gets the worst cases. They all reek horribly, but that’s for the better. If one of them had smelled particularly nice, he might not have made it home in time.

One girl he even has to carry to her front door. She leans her cheek against his – too high and drunk to have any inhibitions left – he enjoys her warmth, to the extent that he can still enjoy anything. In turn, she enjoys the feel of his cool skin with a soft moan. She too doesn't smell nice. She stinks of alcohol and heavy perfume to disguise she had been hunched over the toilet bowl at some point during the night.

His apartment is a decent one that doesn’t match with his endless income. The blinds are always drawn, there is nothing to see outside anyway but the glare from headlights. He had rolled up towels and placed them around the window sill to block out all light that might otherwise come in through the cracks. Walking in, dragging his feet, he flicks on a single light. Long shadows accents the shapes of what little furniture he had. Only a bed at the center of the room – the absence of a couch, or even a lounge chair, allows the studio apartment the illusion of being more spacious than it should–, cluttered side-tables, a big bookcase blocking one of the windows and covering most of that wall and a single barstool at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, where he read day-old newspapers. Yeonjun insisted it was important to remain up-to-date on current and important events, otherwise he would only feel even more disconnected from this modern world, but currently, he prefers to crack open one of his old books and pretends to be in a different time and a different place. It’s the only way he can stand his life; literature laced with memories. Some stories he’s no longer sure if he has only ever read about them, or if he had actually lived them.

Propped up in the corner is a hand-crafted acoustic guitar. Soobin had made it himself, he had labored over it with a passion and care that might as well have belonged to a character in one of the books, because he can't imagine ever having been so devoted to spend so many hours, every day, working on perfecting the instrument. It doesn't seem like something he would do, not anymore. The guitar has always been his favorite, but he doesn't play much anymore. Whenever he does play, he adjusts the tension in the strings, sometimes so much that the instrument is out of tune, because he has to make it sound _different_. If it doesn't sound different, there is no point in playing, he can hear every melody in his head.

He showers first, or else he will never be able to sleep. He will be kept awake by the smell of his customers that had permeated his skin and his hair. His god-awful, unmanageable hair; usually kept in a messy way, sometimes colored and sometimes washed-off. Right now it’s the color of pastel pink, a washed-off hue from its previous dark-red. It had once been his pride and joy, because he’s wearing the color he detests the most like a crown on his head, but at a point taking care of it became a hassle. At first he didn't dye it over with new color because he was afraid he would regret it, nowadays he justifies the slightly long, messy pink hair because it’s an easy way to attract attention whenever he feels like it and it has a disarming effect on people, that had worked to his advantage several times.

Soobin takes his time and lets the hot spray warm his body.

Clean and smelling of nothing but his generic soap, he crawls underneath his black sheets in the nude, maneuvering his bangs behind his ears so the damp hair wouldn't touch his the skin of his face. He wants to savor the warmth in his body for as long as it would last. It lulls him to sleep easily.

Soobin wakes up several times during the day but doesn’t get out of the bed and lets himself fall back to sleep.

Twelve hours creep by, but he doesn't care. If there is one thing he has enough of, it is time.

Part of him had expected Yeonjun would show up unannounced, but then he realizes the blue-haired is probably purposefully ignoring him until he has gone out for a night of 'dancing'. And he probably will ignore him for a few more days after that. Yeonjun understands it’s something Soobin has to do, but even after all the time that has passed, he still feels uncomfortable and conflicted about it. Soobin does too, in the beginning, but it was just an urge that couldn't be suppressed, if you let the desire build-up for too long, it consumes you and reduces you to a single-minded animal and that was when mistakes were made.

The older Soobin has gotten better, the more in control than he was. At first he was a slave to the needs of his body, but at the moment it had been over a month since he had last gone to the clubs and although his friend was right to point out he was particularly cranky and sullen, he doesn't yet feel like he has reached his absolute limit as far as abstinence is concerned. But it is better to be safe than sorry and maybe he will feel uplifted after a visit to the clubs. If he even has Yeonjun's approval, there is no real reason to torture himself by further postponing it.

After he gets out of bed he kills time by reading a book and when it is around midnight he showers again, but that time he only washes with hot water. He doesn't want the lingering smell of soap and shampoo to ruin the experience for him.

He dresses himself in slim-fitted black slacks and a white, satin button-up shirt accompanied with black blazer. The most casual thing about his outfit is the rolled-up sleeves and the undone buttons at the top. He knows he will look different from the rest of the crowd, but ripped jeans and cotton T-shirts with colorful prints would never be his idea of style. Some things shouldn't change.

The music is so loud that his heart pleasantly vibrates in his chest. _Octagon_ is one of his favorite clubs, a staple during his nights on the prowl. Rarely did his pursuit turn out to be unsuccessful. _Octagon_ is nothing special though – was _anything_ special? – the DJ plays the same generic dance music as in every other club and the light effects are set in a certain, standard pattern. Beams sweep the dancefloor, dots of light sparkle on the ceiling, the colors fade from one color of the rainbow to another, culminating in a white, bright light before starting all over, strobe lights enhance the effect of the prominent beat-drop in nearly every track.

The crowd is mostly young. Too young. Especially the girls. These kids like the club because it makes them giggle when they innocently said to their parents: "I'm going to go over to _Octagon_ ", or: "I'm going to spend the night at _Octagon_ , is that okay?" Parents have no idea what kinds of trouble they are exposing themselves to - with their fake ID's, low-cut tops, make-up that adds ten years and short skirts that reveal glimpses of colorful, lacy panties - especially on a night when someone like Soobin walks into the club.

Yeonjun will resent it all the more if he knows Soobin went to _Octagon_ , of all places. It is a good thing the blue-haired keeps his head in the sand as far as this 'hobby' is concerned, or Soobin will get a drawn-out scolding, no doubt.

Soobin is insensitive to their innocence, unsympathetic to the plight of their youth. Because they are young doesn't mean they deserve to be spared. They came for a thrill and, once a month, he would show one of them a real thrill.

But they were not those young women that ever catch his attention. Women smell too flowery and sweet – not just the scent of their perfume and layers of make-up, but their bodies let out a scent that is altogether too light and too delicate to be heady or intoxicating.

Soobin prefers young men. The legal ones, of course, he’s not going to steep down that low. But not all of them smelled _right_ , but once in a blue moon, one did. Men have strong, musky pheromones in the sheen of sweat that covered their bodies. Most men will not be interested in him – for that kind of crowd, _Octagon_ is the wrong place to be, he does know other places to be – but he has discovered that the one man that smelled _right_ , is always interested in him. He considers it as much consent as he requires, this one guy's body is purposefully attracting him, whether he realizes it or not.

On his most basic level, this faceless, nameless man wants him and that is enough.

Soobin goes to the bar but doesn't order a drink, nor responds to the offer of a drug dealer who is quick to approach him. There is only one thing that can provide him the ecstatic high that he needs once in a while.

With narrowed eyes he observes the dancers; doing nothing more but jumping up and down to the rhythm of the beat – some are even off-beat – or grinding their bodies together in a way that has no semblance to dancing but is still condoned on the dancefloor. The problem with a club like _Octagon_ is how much older he feels, not of age but regarding their dull, naïve youth.

Envy is not at the root of the problem, but a woeful measure of nostalgia, remembering a class and an elegance that once was and how much he delighted in upsetting the established order. His mischief is lost and wasted in a world where rules were loosely interpreted as guidelines, where propriety and decency were old-fashioned notions and nothing was ever extreme enough. The entire population suffered from blunt senses, not just who used to be Choi Soobin. Shock and awe, once overpowering aspects of the human experience, are background noise in a life of over-stimulation. Everything clashes into an incoherent mess of sounds, sights, senses and experiences. One thing cancels out another until there is nothing left but static that people become deaf and blind to.

In the silence that remains, all Soobin hears are echoes from the past, beckoning him to come back. But he has as little control over time as time has control over him. He can't go back, only forward, and the view was bleak.

But this is hardly the time, nor the place, for thoughts of that sort.

Periodically he scans the crowd and makes his rounds, squeezing between hot, sweaty bodies. No luck. Not yet. He returns to his post at the bar yet again, leaning his elbows back on the surface as he stands facing the dance floor.

He is about to give up hope and head for _Mirage_ instead, when a flash of red draws his gaze.

The crowd parts at exactly the right time to expose a young man, dancing at the center of the dance floor. He looks young, his face, maybe around eighteen or his early stages of twenty. But his body says otherwise. With his arms thrown into the air, his redshirt hiked up his torso, exposing a taut stomach and a faint trail of dark belt circling his navel to the hem of his low-riding, tight jeans. His hips sway fluidly, his spine curves elegantly, dark curls framing his innocent-looking eyes. When Soobin recognizes his scent among the muddle of wrong smells, the decision is made.

_Him_.

He smells right. And _ready_ , like a ripe fruit.

Without hesitation, he pushes off the bar and cuts through the swarm of people. He ignores their foul glances as he has to force his way past some of them before he would lose track of that wild mop of chocolate brown hair.

When he reaches him, the young man has his back turned towards him. He is dancing with no one. He is dancing with everyone. His scent is a previously unknown perfume of perfection. A deep, sharp mix of grape, pine, grass, and rain. He smells wild. Free. The perfume reminds Soobin of nothing. It is completely novel.

He is aroused, Soobin can smell that on him. He can taste it in his mouth. The heat that radiates from his body makes Soobin's entire body ache to be enveloped by it.

During his dance, he eventually spins around to face Soobin, who isn't even feigning innocence by dancing to the beat. The tall man stands still on the dance floor, staring at him with predatory eyes; a lust-filled gaze that this young man doesn't understand the extent of. The young man freezes at the sight of this man, towering over him, feasting on him with his gaze.

Soobin studies his face without shame. Chocolate brown, messy curly hair frames an exotic face; a face that you can’t really find in Seoul, or in Korea on that matter; a face of sculpted features and smooth planes. His pale skin blushes red on his high cheekbones. His jaw corners away sharply from his ears and culminates in a pointed chin. His lips are rosy and pouty; the bottom full, the top thin but shaped like a taut bow. His nose is sharp with a slight bump, and it is decidedly cute. His double eyelids are charming and his eyes are round and a brilliant shade of almond.

With the imminent consequences unknown to the young man in the red shirt, he is not intimidated and he grins sloppily at the attention he is getting. His body starts to move again.

"Aren't you going to dance?"

Soobin suppresses a pleasant shudder at the sound of that deep, smooth voice that doesn't suit his youth at all. "No one dances here," He replies, allowing his distaste to be apparent. "This isn't dancing, this is jumping."

Embarrassment flickers through light-brown eyes. He halts his dance but isn't discouraged by Soobin's deceptive attitude. He takes a step closer, pressing the very tips of his fingers against the taller man's torso as he leans into him. "Then show me how to dance."

The touch is so hot it burned him, but it is a pain he welcomes. It’s delicious. His smell is even better as it gets closer and stronger; it’s laced with burnt embers and woody smoke. The young man isn't drunk and he isn't high either. He is just horny and desperate to be taken, foregoing all inhibitions to fulfill his desire. Soobin will gladly reap the benefits. "I can't. Not here."

"Why not?"

"Too many distractions."

"Take me somewhere we won't be distracted."

_Foolish boy._ "Somewhere private?" Soobin grins.

"Yeah." The word comes past his lips as a moan.

Soobin turns and walks away. The boy follows him, as expected. They leave the club after wordlessly, waiting at the front for the boy's coat to be handed back to him at the coat check. Outside, cold wind is channeled through the streets by the buildings. It whips around them and tugs at their hair and clothes. The tall man is unaffected by the cold, just like the young man, who doesn't bother to zip-up his coat.

"What's your name?" Soobin asks. It isn't important for him to know – he had heard too many names in his lifespan to remember any of them – but he needs the boy to know his name, so he can scream it later. Soobin knows asking for his name will not just get him the answer but have the question served right back to him.

"Me?” The young man licks his lower lips and Soobin has to hold himself back from licking his own. “I’m Huening Kai."

"Huening Kai…" He repeats the name. It is good, unique but an easy name to purr sensually. He will regret forgetting it.

"What's your name?"

Soobin throws a smirk over his shoulder at the boy, following him. "Soobin." His last name is irrelevant.

"Nice to meet you, Soobin."

Soobin chuckles.

"Where are you taking me, Soobin?"

He shivers then, he isn't disappointed by the way his name sounded, formed by his pink tongue and tumbling from those shapely lips. Kai produces the sound of his name like a guitar produces a sultry note. If his naughty tone is any indication, Kai is aware of how attractive he is and what kind of effect he’s having on the other. He probably feels more in charge than he should, sexually-confident and physically-capable. Soobin will enjoy having him submit to him all the more.

"Someplace quiet," Soobin answers mysteriously.

Mostly why he prefers _Octagon_ over all the other clubs he frequented, is the location near the docks. After a five minute walk, they reach an abandoned warehouse, looking out over the Upper Bay. Kai should have been scared, but Soobin can't detect even a single trace of trepidation in him as he follows him into the dilapidated building. The cargo elevator still works, Soobin had made sure of that, and they go up to the top floor.

The top floor is one giant, open space, with windows all around. Only the bare framework of a few walls remained. The light from the city and the bright, full moon is enough to illuminate the concrete floor so Soobin can find his way to the first group of candles. In the open space a corner is created by some scaffolding. Dozens of candles illuminate the scaffolding and the concrete floor surrounding the mattress placed there. He starts lighting them and doesn't speak a word to his guest who is drawn to the windows overlooking the bay.

"I can see the Hangang Bridge from here!" He remarks excitedly and he taps his thin, pointed finger against the pane of glass in the general direction of the landmark, as if he honestly expects Soobin need that pointed out to him. His childlike wonder is as endearing as it is enviable.

"So you're not from Seoul," Soobin concludes. Technically, neither is he, but he has lived in Seoul long enough to no longer be impressed with the tourist-attractions and he knows most people in Seoul – born and raised - well enough to know they are blind to the obvious gems of their city as well. Some only got excited about hole-in-the-wall coffee-shops, the perfect Kimchi soup and out-of-way fashion outlets that have that 'undiscovered' quality to them.

"Why do people always say that?" Kai wonders out loud but doesn't tear his gaze away from the view. "I've lived here since I was ten years old."

Soobin's eyebrows raise in surprise. That is longer than he has expected, given his enthusiasm from before. "Still, if you're not born here, you're not from here. You'll never be a Seoul-born. It takes a lifetime."

"We're you born here?"

"No." _But I've spent a lifetime here_ , he thinks secretly.

"Where are you from?"

"You wouldn't know it." He continues to light candles.

"Why not?"

"It doesn't exist anymore." Soobin is prepared to shoot down further inquiries, but the boy remains silent.

When he is done lighting the candles he stands and waits patiently, watching Kai's silhouette in front of the window, far away from the warm light of the candles that flickers. Orange light licks along the uneven concrete floor and the rumpled sheets on the mattress that he had arranged for the purpose of his monthly prowls. Kai isn't his first guest and he will not be his last.

The boy shakes his coat off his shoulders and lets it fall to the floor before turning to face the scene Soobin has set. He approaches with an unnerving calm and fearlessness. Usually, this is the point where guys typically starts to get a little anxious, either because they are afraid or at least because they are eager.

Kai stands on the other side of the double mattress. He looks relaxed, his shoulders not tense, his hips are slightly pushed forward. His arms are limp at his sides. "You were going to show me how to dance properly," He reminds the older man.

"Yes." Soobin grins. He walks around the mattress to the wide-open space on the other side and offers the boy his hand.

"There is no music."

"Music is a distraction. The purest dance keeps in rhythm with your heartbeat and your breathing."

He extends his hand and takes Soobin's. When their skin first makes contact, he shoots the tall man a look. "Your hand is cold," He says, but he isn't deterred, nor repulsed by his cold as so many others were.

"I'm warming it up."

Soobin pulls him closer to him and relishes in the warmth of his body as it is pressed against his. A fire burns inside the young man and it burns more brightly than anything Soobin has ever experienced. His heat easily seeps through Soobin's skin and settles in his bones. The pink-haired man maneuvers Kai into position: supporting his right hand with his left, placing Kai's left hand on his shoulder and aligning their hips, fusing their pelvises together and inserting one thigh between Kai's legs. He drops his right hand, letting it caress along Kai's hollow spine before settling on the small of his lower, lower than what is considered proper, even for this kind of dance.

Kai becomes aroused again. Soobin can smell it as much as he can feel it. Heady pheromones bloom. And with their bodies flush against each other he can feel Kai's heart reverberates in his chest and picking up the pace until it settles on a rhythm that’s more passionate than any music Soobin can remember.

Soobin starts swaying their hips, their pelvises naturally grinding together and Kai allows himself to be led, following Soobin's small steps to the sides. The uncomplicated dance is determined by mood and music. In the absence of music, the atmosphere became everything and it dictates the most sensual interpretation of the dance Soobin has ever been part of. Neither of them worries about the technicalities. Soobin moves in the most basic steps and Kai follows like it’s second nature to him. Before long Soobin's erection matches Kai's and the grinding of their hips, which is the main characteristic of the dance, and it’s a welcome pleasure as much as it is an unbearable torture.

"What kind of dance is this?" Kai wonders, already out of breath, the warmth of each labored exhale spreading across the exposed skin of Soobin's neck and into his shirt.

"It's Latin-American. It's called the Bachata."

"Where did you learn to dance like this?"

"In Latin-America." He flashes him a grin to make up for his dry, condescending tone. He slips his hand under Kai's cotton T-shirt. His hand is warm now, it has absorbed Kai's heat, but still the boy shivers at the touch. Soobin's fingers trail up further, following the spine. The fabric stretches to accommodate his entire forearm and Soobin explores the sharp shapes of the shoulder blades, the tone of muscle and the faint bumps - indicating ribs – that appears whenever Kai takes a deep breath to steady himself.

Kai tilts his head up invitingly, presenting his mouth to Soobin. He is tall enough to reach, and if not for Soobin’s untouchable aura the boy would have initiated the kiss himself, he thinks. When Soobin doesn't give him the desired response, he boldly prompts: "Kiss me."

"Not yet." He dips his head but only to let his lips brush from the corner of Kai's mouth to his hot, reddened ear. "The night is still young," He whispers.

Kai groans and buries his nose into the crook of Soobin's neck.

The taller man is caught off guard by his own smile. It’s been a long time, indeed.

The grinding of their hips ceases to resemble the dance and instead is reduced to hormonal dry-humping, but Soobin doesn't mind. Kai's need is apparent and he shouldn't tease him too much, not at that stage, it will not be conducive to the mood. Once the boy all wrapped up in his own pleasure Soobin will have no qualms with relenting control, and maybe being denied certain pleasures will only make Kai all the more excited and willing to surrender to him.

Kai's hands don’t remain idle, he kneads the muscles in Soobin's sides and brings a hand up under his button-up, mapping the old scars that marred his pale torso. His touch is imprecise and impatient, but effective nonetheless.

Soobin remembers being like that, once, long ago. When there was an inextricable quality of hurriedness to every sense of desire. Instant gratification was the only gratification. Rutting against your partner without control and purpose. Seeking something without being able to see. Trusting the evolutionary marvel that was the human body to make the best of the basic friction that was provided and letting the brain interpret it as something mind-blowing. Now that Soobin is much older, his stamina allows him a more deliberate approach and he knows how to make the most of the night.

With the tip of his tongue he draws a line down the side of Kai's throat and then places his mouth over the pulsing artery and sucks on the skin. He can feel the blood rushing in the wild rhythm of the beating heart. He removes his mouth, leaving the patch of skin reddened and sensitive and all the more tempting, but it’s not the time yet.

The boy mewls pathetically, already surrendering to Soobin's mercy, not knowing there isn't much mercy to be found.

Soobin roughly grabs the boy's wrist and yanks it up to his face. He treats the blue veins standing out in the slim wrist to the same ministrations of his lips. He lets his teeth scrape over the skin and he feels Kai tremble although his body radiates more heat than ever. He is feverishly hot. Soobin can feel the young, curious thing staring at him with innocent light brown eyes at half-mast. He grins and then maneuvers the hand to take the index finger into his mouth to suck on it suggestively. Kai's knees nearly buckle and his free hand seeks purchase on Soobin's shoulder.

Kai's heart stutters in his chest. Soobin can hear it. And Soobin can smell that the boy is soiling his underwear with precome.

With a pop Soobin releases the finger. "Undress yourself and go lie on the bed." He nods at the sober mattress on the floor and specifies: "Face down."

A shudder passes through his plaything of choice. Kai nods, almost a little too eager. He strips away his clothing, revealing an athletic, but still lean, shapely body. His shoulders are set nicely wide, collarbones angling up from breastbone to scapula, both culminating in a faint bump atop his shoulders. His arms and chest are nicely toned in the right place, the muscles move fluidly underneath pale skin as he moves to rid himself of his jeans after kicking off his shoes. His slim waist flared out to slightly wider hips, too wide hips, just like a woman’s. His legs are endless, with strong thighs and defined calves.

This is what he meant. His face and demeanor seem young, so naïve, so innocent, but his body? Not so much.

Soobin lets his eyes feast shamelessly and Kai doesn't appear very self-conscious when he pushes his boxer brief down his legs and steps out of them. The boy doesn't meet his eyes and instead turns around without seeking further instruction or guidance and lowers himself onto the mattress. He crawls to the center on all fours and then gets into position, laying down on his stomach, folding his hands under his chin and purposefully angling his hips to present himself.

Soobin groans in approval. Keeping out of Kai's line of sight he snatches one of the thick candles off the scaffolding and stalks towards his prey. He kneels onto the mattress, straddling Kai's left thigh. The boy draws in a gasp when Soobins lets his fingers ghost over his buttocks ever so lightly. He moves his hips, seeking a stronger touch, something that isn't so ticklish and doesn't make him tense-up all over but Soobin will not give him that. Kai mewls in disappointment when the fingers completely disappear. With a devilish grin Soobin holds the candle directly above Kai's behind and tilts it to let the molten candlewax spills onto the sensitive skin.

Kai whines in surprise but the sound evolves into a deep moan.

Soobin watches the wax harden, fringed by reddened skin. "Has anyone ever done this to you before?"

"N-No," He stutters as more wax drops onto him.

Soobin grins in appreciation, he likes introducing his partners to new things, so he can live vicariously through them and feel the excitement of 'something new', even when it isn't new to him.

He moves the candle laterally and tilts it again, letting several drops drip down onto the other ass cheek, which is met with a similar reaction of shock blending into pleasure. He dips his finger into it before the wax cooled and dragging it down as it stiffens along the way and crumbles from the skin.

Kai moves his hips in tiny motions, content having his erection sandwiched between the mattress and his stomach.

Soobin leans forward and lets his eyes trail down the smooth expanse of his back. He lets more hot wax drip on him, sensitizing his skin, not just on his cheeks but on the back of his thighs and shoulders as well. The boy flinches at every droplet, never knowing where and when the next will fall, but his gasp never fails to morph into a moan. Long, pale fingers twist into the sheets, hard. He will not be the first to tear them.

Done with this part of the game, he blows out the candle and tosses it aside. It hits the concrete floor with a dull thud and then further rolls away from them, disappearing into the darkness beyond the reach of the delicate light from the dozens of candles surrounding them. Soobin lowers his hips and grounds his pelvis against Kai's bottom. The young one pushes back wantonly and whines and groans like an animal in heat.

"You're so fucking _needy_ ," Soobin remarks. He isn't disappointed.

"Yes. I need it. Please," The prey mewls into the single pillow.

Soobin drops his head and buries his nose in the messy, dark curl. He breathes in the scent of sweat, ripe with a perfume of seductive pheromones. It is getting stronger and stronger. Regular humans will not be able to smell it, not consciously at least, but Soobin's kind is more evolved in that regard, although no more evolved in being able to resist. He nips on the soft, fleshy earlobe and keeps thrusting against him, enjoying the effects he has on the youngster.

He sits up and straddles Kai's lower back, keeping him pinned to the mattress so he can no longer rock his hips to achieve friction against the bedsheets. With one hand he roughly grabs Kai's hair and forces him to turn his head, facing him to the right. He holds his other hand in front of him, presenting his index and middle finger. The simple instruction is: "Suck."

Without hesitation, the boy takes the fingers into his mouth. The wet cavern is so hot that it nearly burns Soobin, but once he gets used to it, the heat becomes addictive and comforting. A heat that he can not imagine ever growing tired of. The lips are sealed around him tightly and a flat tongue presses itself against the underside of his fingers. The boy suckles earnestly, revealing an erotic skill. It isn't a stretch for Soobin's imagination to envision Kai sucking on his cock, paying extra attention to the crown, the way he pays extra attention to the tips of his fingers, and letting his throat vibrates around him as he moans gratuitously.

Soobin pulls out his fingers, but is momentarily mesmerized by the thread of saliva that is still connected his digits to Kai's mouth. Overcome with an old sense of impatience he scoots down to sit on the boy's thighs and brings his hand down. He presses the pads of his fingers against the opening between the round cheeks. His other hand, he pushes into the small of Kai's back, forcing him to arch his back further and angle his hips up more. He pets the puckered pink hole with both fingers, the teasing ministrations causing the recipient to squirm.

Soobin looks up to see Kai biting his bottom lip. He feels a flicker of panic, afraid of what will happen if Kai accidentally draws blood. He doesn't trust that he will be able to refrain himself if that sharp, metallic scent is to fill the air. He bents forward and kisses the corner of the plump mouth. "Don't do that," He whispers. "Don't bite your lip."

The white teeth lose their grip on the bottom lip; the flesh is swollen and reddened and his teeth have left marks in the skin, but the skin has not yet broken. He whimpers.

"Good boy," Soobin breathes and to reward him he pushes the very tip of his middle finger into Kai's opening. Kai bucks beneath him, but to no avail. Pleads start to spill from his lips. Also to no avail. All Soobin does is working the end of his finger in and out of him. It does little to stretch him and in no way helps him relax. The boy's entire body is tense and he clenches and spasms desperately around that inch of a finger. It takes little coaxing to turn up the volume of Kai's cries. Pleased to reap the rewards of his handiwork, Soobin listens to the lewd sounds that tumble from his mouth. He presses his index finger in alongside the middle finger, but still refuses to go deep.

"Ahh. Nnn… You're evil."

"That is the general consensus, yes." Soobin smirks. Finally, he pushes the fingers further into Kai's body and the boy yelps in response and his tight hold on the sheets rips the fabric. The older man finds the prostate easily and massages the bundle of nerves, making Kai loses all sense of himself. His touch is purposeful but he makes sure not to bring Kai over the edge, although it is readily apparent that he can, even without directly stimulating his arousal. He fucks him open with his fingers, reading his cries and facial expressions to know exactly when to be rough and when to be gentle, when to focus on his prostate and when to stretch him with a scissoring motion.

The boy eventually becomes breathless and can only produce small, pathetic sounds as he submits to the exquisite torture. Saliva trickles from his mouth, tears trail down from his eyes and his precome stains the sheets.

"You want my cock, don't you?"

"God yes…" He hisses in response and squeezes his eyes shut. More tears fall. He is desperate, not upset.

"You want to get fucked so badly."

Kai doesn't say anything. He knows it’s not a question. He knows it’s the truth that can’t be denied.

He takes his fingers out and grabs Kai's hips with both hands and hoists him up on all fours before directing him to sit on his knees. He pulls the boy's back against his chest and tilts his head back so he can kiss him savagely. The mouth is as hot, wet and responsive as he has hoped. Kai kisses back generously and passionately.

Soobin is still fully dressed, whereas the boy is naked, exposed and vulnerable, but this situation just adds to Soobin's excitement. He snakes one arm around the slim waist to steady him and then shoves his fingers back inside the opening. He drinks up Kai's moans and gasps as he continues to unravel him like this.

He knows that he should grant the boy his release if he wants him to able to come with him later on. So he uses his free hand to wrap around Kai's erection. As expected, the skin is slick from precome and moves easily in Soobin's tight fist.

Subjected to more pleasure than he can handle, Kai is unable to maintain the kiss. He keeps his lips parted as he moans continuously and senselessly and Soobin resorts to suckling on his delicious bottom lip. Then, suddenly, Kai bares his teeth and lets out a strangled cry when he reaches his orgasm. Soobin is quick to angle the erection so the hot semen lands on his hand and on Kai's own stomach. The milky white droplets feel like molten wax on Soobin's skin.

When he abruptly lets go of Kai, the boy topples forward, completely limp and powerless, and he lands on the mattress with a bounce.

Soobin remains upright on his knees and watches the young boy catches his breath. His skin glistens with a sheen of sweat and the candlelight beautifully enhances the pale, but rosey tone of his skin.

Kai hugs the pillow to himself and buries his nose in it, muffling his drawn-out moans as he revels in the aftermath of his orgasm. His dark hair fans out around him, contrasting nicely with the white sheets. Then he turns his head and peers back at him with one visible, his once bright almond eye now dark with too much pleasure.

_He is so beautiful_ , Soobin thinks to himself. He tries to think of something to compare him to, some past visual to quantify his beauty. The breathtaking natural architecture of the Tianzi mountains in China. The calming grace of the waterlilies at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The purity of Vatnajokull Glacier Cave, in Iceland. The impressive sight of the lavender fields of Provence, France, under a sky painted red, orange and blue by the sunset. The detail of gold-leafed ceiling of Rome's San Giovanni in Laterano cathedral, or the mosaic floor beneath it.

There is no comparison. Kai's beauty is singular. Not any more beautiful, just a different kind of beauty. A beauty he hasn't witnessed in a person for a very long time, if ever. It seems like such a waste that it will not last; that the beauty is bound to a mortal entity. It seems even more wasteful to cut his life short.

Kai maneuvers on the bed, twisting his body to lie on his back. He gazes at the older man through thick, long lashes. "Fuck me," He breathes and he pushes himself up with his arms and noses Soobin's stomach and caresses his hands up and down Soobin's thighs. "You owe me at least that, Soobin."

He snatches Kai's face by the chin and forces him to look up at him. Kai's behavior implies that he knows what Soobin is and that he knows how the night will end and yet he is so casual and careless in the face of it.

It irks Soobin.

Kai is something special, but the boy is ignorant about it. That he will throw it all away in favor of a cheap, suicidal thrill is the real waste. He clutches the jaw strongly and his hold might leave a bruise. As soon as he realizes this, he loosens his grip and soothes the jawline with his thumb. He stares into bright brown eyes, noting the lack of fear and confusion which he normally feasts on. He doesn't understand this young man. He has never met someone so unafraid, so apparently self-destructive, yet at the same time self-aware and confident.

"Undress me," Soobin commands and lets his hand drop down to his side.

Kai gets up on his knees in front of him and pops the buttons of his shirt. His lips are parted and a pink tongue is sticking out slightly. When the young man pushes the shirt open, he lets hot fingers graze along the expanse of Soobin's pale chest and move up to slip the fabric over his broad shoulders and then peels it down his arms. The boy leans forward and latches his heated mouth onto Soobin's neck while his fingers blindly undid his belt buckle and the button and zipper of his slacks. The weight of the belt pulls them down to his knees and Kai palms his arousal through his black boxer briefs. With his other arm, he encircles Soobin's torso and he toys with the end of his strawberry colored hair. He envelopes the taller man with his warmth and with his smell. With their chests pressed together he can feel the young heart stuttering in Kai's ribcage and every sharp inhale of air tighten their embrace. Butterfly kisses lands on his neck and the shell of his ear, that prickled with the heat of Kai's breaths and hurt when he worries the earlobe between his teeth.

"That's enough. Lie down." His voice is gruff. It is not his intention to lose control. When Kai releases his ear and allows an inch of cold air between them, he can collect his cool and with a hand against Kai's sternum, he urges him to lay down on the bed again, on his back. The action of ridding himself of his shoes, socks, pants and underwear, is not as elegant as he has hoped.

Soobin hooks his hands under Kai's knees and pushes his legs up. So shortly after his orgasm, the younger man hasn't yet regained his erection and that is something Soobin has to amend first, before continuing. He moves his open mouth along the creamy thighs and breathes in the intimate, musky scent. He licks the skin and bites the flesh whenever he feels like, taking care not to draw blood. It’s exciting to find that balance of biting hard enough to leave marks, but not hard enough for his teeth to break the skin. He moves up, purposefully circumventing the half-hard manhood. He dips his tongue into the belly-button, smiling when Kai arches his back and squirms, and then focuses his attention on the first nipple. He starts gently, mouthing it with lax lips, laving it with his tongue and suckling on it, before taking it between his teeth and alternating bites with soothing licks. His hands remain on the thighs, keeping them spread, keeping him exposed. As he shifts to treat and then mistreat the other nipple, the head of his erection rubs against Kai's perineum and his opening. The crescendo of throaty moans sent vibrations through Soobin's body; from his eardrums to the tips of his toes and fingers.

Before long Kai's shaft is red and firm again, resting heavily on his abdomen, twitching as it’s being ignored while every other inch of his skin is being worshipped.

Deeming his partner ready and recognizing he’s getting impatient himself, Soobin sits back on his haunches and twists his torso to reach back for his pants. A small bottle of lube is in his pocket, since he has known full well how the night would go. When he turns back around Kai has sat up. His face is at the height of the Soobin's midriff. His hands crawl up to Soobin's hips and rest comfortably there and his lips place kisses on Soobin's body like it is easy, natural and familiar. Soobin stares at him. Shadows licks at the smooth planes of his features. His thick lashes frame his darkening eyes, the contrast of bright white and intense brown is replaced with pools of black to drown in. When his front teeth graze the swell of Soobin's tightened abdominal muscles Kai tilts his head up and lets the light catch his eyes to illuminate the mischievous twinkle.

"Do you want to bite me, little one?" He grabs his chin and curls his spine to come face-to-face with him.

"I want to suck your cock," Kai states boldly in response. A wicked smile graces his youthful features. His expression would have been obnoxious on anybody else, but the appeal of Kai's charisma is a beautiful gloss on virtues that Soobin has come to resent in others; audacity, arrogance and a kind of frankness that isn't rooted in honesty for honesty's sake, but in a sense of entitlement, assuming the privilege of being allowed to say and do anything without fearing the consequence. And not because he is ignorant of the consequences, but because they do not intimidate him. This is youth. This is pure, unbridled youth. Soobin wishes he can capture it and treasure it forever. Lets it confuse him, frustrate him, amuse him and excite him for the rest of eternity, but with regret he realizes it can’t be bottled; it can’t be preserved.

Soobin can make the boy like him. He has the self-restraint to do that nowadays, to not get lost in the feeding-frenzy. But it will be futile. The change will warp every fiber of his being. The boy will become a lifeless thing, like Soobin. Scentless, pale and cold. The reddish hue of his skin, the flush of his cheeks and chest and the brightness of his bright brown eyes will fade. He will always look young, but too soon he will not really be young or fresh anymore. He will become another ancient ghoul, half alive, existing long enough to resent his own immortality. When once the sight of the Hangang Bridge can still thrill him after many years, everything will come to bore him.

It’s a grim outlook.

Soobin isn't confident that he can live with the guilt, for the rest of his eternity, if he extinguishes this bright flame, whether it will be by ending his life or by unnaturally extending it.

What makes Kai that much different from his other 'dance partners', Soobin can't tell. There has been other, brazen, bright-eyed and spirited boys, but somehow they pale in comparison.

"Later," The tall man finally says in response to Kai's outspoken desire.

"Later?"

"You're not leaving here until morning," Soobin purrs and he pushes the exotic male back onto the mattress and climbs on top of him, locking his elbows to keep himself hovering above him.

Kai frowns, like he knows the initial plan was to not let him leave at all and he doesn't trust the change of heart. His features are soon relaxed when the other lowers himself onto him and Kai becomes docile in the passionate kiss, accepting Soobin's tongue into his mouth and surrendering to the man's will.

Soobin expertly uncaps the tube of lube without ever losing his focus on the receptive, hot mouth. With three fingers coated in the slick substance, he brings the hand down between Kai's legs and pauses their kiss long enough for Kai to draw in a shuddering breath when he pushes the first digit past the tight ring of his opening. He keeps the touch shallow. Kai moves his hips in an attempt to get the finger deeper inside of him and he mewls against Soobin's grinning lips when he fails.

"I'm in charge," Soobin growls.

Kai nods compliantly, grinning. "Yes."

Soobin works in a second, then later a third finger but doesn't push them in beyond the first joint.

Kai rolls his head from side to side, teetering on a line between ecstasy and frustration.

"Beg me."

"Please," He breathes senselessly in response.

"Please, what?"

"Please. Give me more."

Soobin smirks. "More of my fingers? Or do you want my cock?"

"Anything. Everything. Please…" Clouded eyes regard him.

Soobin pushes three of fingers further into them and flutters them over the bundle of nerves of the prostate.

Kai arches his back and cries out. "Yes! Ah! Thank you!"

He smiles and applies more pressure as he continues to massage the sensitive spot.

The boy is rendered incoherent, moaning, gasping and mumbling something that may have been Soobin's name.

"Are you ready, baby?"

Kai trembles at the sweet nickname. "Yes…"

"Do you want my thick cock in here?" He moves his fingers in and out of the slick passage. "Do you want to feel it stretch you and caress your sweet-spot with every thrust?"

"Fuck," He bites his lip. "Yeah."

Soobin bends down and swipes the pearl of precome off the head of the neglected erection with his tongue.

Kai throws his arm over his eyes and lets out a deep groan that vibrates in his throat.

"Turn over," Soobin orders.

"I want to watch you fuck me."

Soobin snatches Kai's face by his chin and reminds him: "I'm in charge."

Kai manages a small nod with his chin in Soobin's strong grip. As soon as the older man let go he obediently rolls over onto his stomach and angles his pelvis to give access.

Soobin pours more of the lube onto his member and then grabs Kai by his hips and pulls him up on all fours. Kai's hipbones feel sharp in his palms as he squeezes them and maneuvers them both into position. He holds himself with one hand and inches forward until the tip of his arousal kisses Kai's opening. He rubs his hard flesh against the twitching hole.

"Please," Kai moans like a good boy he is, and Soobin obliges him.

Pushing into him is like sinking into a hot bath. Every nerve-ending fired. The first sparks are intense, almost painful, but are quickly replaced with a pleasant tingle, coursing through his body in a pulsing rhythm. He slides his cock into the hot sheath to the hilt. The muscles ripple around him, clenching and relaxing.

Kai collapses, his face and shoulders burying into the mattress. A strangled cry is ripped out of him, an equal expression of pain and pleasure.

Not meaning to hurt or torture his lover, Soobin gives him time to adjust to his size. He reaches around and teases his erection, milking more precome out of it and spreading it over the sensitive crown with his thumb.

He dips his head down and whispers against the back of his neck: "You feel so good."

"You're so big…" He mumbles into the sheets.

Soobin chuckles. "Is that a complaint?"

"No…" He drawls and cocks his head to the side to reveal his face; flustered and dewy with a sheen of sweat. He exhales in deep, labored puffs and bites down on his plump bottom lip again when Soobin kisses and nips at his shoulder blade.

"It drives me crazy to see you biting your lip like that," He snarls and sinks his teeth into the skin of his back more earnestly, coming dangerously close to drawing blood.

The pearly whites release the lowered lip and the flesh bounces back into place.

Without warning Soobin sits upright and pulls Kai along with him. He wraps his thick arms around his body, clutching him to him. Kai's back is wet and slick with perspiration. Soobin licks his lips when Kai looks over his shoulder at him.

He stares at the pink, swollen lower lip and can't resist reacquainting himself with what it tastes like. He closes his mouth around it and suckles on it and worries it between his teeth. His hands roam over Kai's abdomen, kneading the muscles and marveling at how thin his waist feels when he puts his big hands on his sides. His fingers ghost up to dust over the ribs that appeared with each sharp intake of breath. He drops one hand to the inside of the thigh, feeling the wetness of excess lube trailing down the inside of his legs. The scent of sweat and sex is intoxicating and Soobin takes deep breaths hoping it will permeate his body – his skin, his lungs, the hairs in his nose, the taste buds on his tongue – and that he will exude it for days to come.

Soobin toys with the idea of not just letting Kai go at the end of the night, but to see him more often; invite him to his apartment and take him on his own bed, so that smell can stain his sheets and seeps into the curtains and the clothes in his closet. To keep that warmth near, to cherish it, to kindle it. It’s the most reckless, dangerous thought he has entertained in over a century.

He places his hands on the hips and digs the tips of his fingers into the flesh for grip and starts moving their bodies the way they both crave it to be. With each thrust he pulls Kai's pelvis back to meet with his, making the penetration that much more powerful. Their grunts and moans blend into one. One of Kai's hands grabs Soobin's butt cheek. The pads of his fingers will leave deep purple bruises, but at the moment the touch feels like five cigarette burns and the white-hot pain only makes the pleasure more intense for him.

Soobin relocates his mouth to Kai's craning neck, running his lips along the skin, searching for the pulse. His tongue traces the artery and skips up to his ear to wet the shell of his ear before blowing cool air into it.

The rhythm of their lower bodies is relentless. Their flesh slaps together hard enough to drown out the sounds that poured past their lips. Soobin encircles Kai's erection with his fist but does nothing more than feeling it throb in his palm and revels at how it twitches in his hold in response to the pleasure he is receiving.

"You're so hot," He mumbles into the ear.

"Is that a complaint?" Kai mirrors Soobin's question from before.

The long-haired man smiles. "No." Kai heat is a kind he has never experienced before. It seeps into the depths of him, unlike hot showers or warm weather, which only heated his skin and left his body too quickly. Kai's heat will linger, he’s sure of it. It scares him to imagine how much he will crave it once it’s gone from his bones, his still heart, his arms, his cock… He pretty sure he will loathe the cold all the more, after having known this fieriness.

Soobin picks up the pace, feeling a building pressure low in his belly. Maybe he should have held off their orgasm, but he is impatient for release and he knows it will not be the last time of that night. He works the crown of Kai's arousal with his thumb and two fingers. The small but purposeful stimulation in combination with an incessant assault on his prostrate is enough to make the boy reaches his climax before Soobin. The channel tightening around him is all that is needed to bring him over the edge as well. He closes his eyes only to be blinded by white lights sparkling behind his eyelids as the peak of pleasure ripping through his body. It breaks something down inside of him; a wall maybe. With his left arm he embraces Kai.

Kai has his back arched and his head thrown back, over Soobin's shoulder. His cries are high and too loud, so close to his ear, but makes him smile regardless because the boy is crying out his name, just the way he likes it.

His hand is sticky with the other's release. He wipes most of it off on his thigh but then brings his fingers to Kai's lips and has him suck the digits clean. Soobin then disentangles them and lets the boy fall forward onto the mattress. He admired the glossy skin of his inner thighs, stained with lubricant and his come.

Kai rolls over and looks at him with dark, hooded eyes.

"Rest. The night is still young."

The heavy eyelids flutter shut.

Soobin lets him sleep for half an hour while he stands at the windows and studies the illuminated Hangang Bridge in the distance. Then his eyes trail into the lit-up windows of the buildings around. Every single square and rectangle of light represents a person – some more than one. So many people and yet he had been alone two or three lifetimes' worth. It usually didn’t bother him, there is no joy to be found in the company of others anyway. But as Kai's warmth disappears from his skin into the chill air around him and he starts to feel cold again, like he himself is the lonely bridge hovering above the river, he admits with a shiver of a different kind that some company is joyful after all. It’s a bittersweet revelation. He can risk seeing Kai a few more times, in the secrecy and anonymity of the night, but he needs to keep the young man at an arm's length in order to protect himself. He may be immortal, age nor disease can ever ravage him, but he’s not invincible and this is a dangerous time to be a blood-sucking creature in the city of Seoul.

Kai stirs on the bed, the rustle of the sheets that Soobin has draped over him draws his attention. The immortal smiles and cocks his head. He’s not alone that night and he should enjoy it to the fullest.

Soobin stalks back to the bed and joins his lover under the sheets, where it is deliciously warm. Kai melts against him. He presses his mouth against Soobin's and his kiss is like the first sip of coffee that’s too hot, but you want more of the taste anyway.

"Show me how to dance one more time," He whispers against his lips.

Recognizing the euphemism, Soobin rolls on top of him and pins his wrists above his head. "I'll show you more than once."

All night he trades Kai pleasure for warmth, becoming more gentle with him every time as the boy becomes increasingly undone and much more vulnerable and precious and it fills him with an urge to protect, rather than to destroy. He treasures the heat. He will never let anyone ruin it, not even himself, not even when he knows how good it will be to sink his teeth into that beautiful neck and swallows the source of that fieriness and cradle it in his own belly for as long as it will last.

Soobin is the cold, lonely bridge hovering above the water and Kai is the bright, warm moon that he would tirelessly long for.

The candles get shorter and shorter and some flames are smothered by their own, molten wax as they ha burned through the entire length of candlesticks.

Kai sleeps in his arms.

Even without a clock Soobin knows it will soon be dawn. He can feel it. An instinctual alarm goes off inside him and warns him to get to the safety of his hole-in-the-wall apartment with haste. Even the mere warm glow of the sun at the horizon, whether or not he’s shielded by shadows, is enough to make him feel feverish and sick and will eventually incapacitate him.

Exposure to direct sunlight will broil his white skin and within seconds the blisters and welts will blacken and like lava hardening, he will not be able to move, until he is burnt black in his entirety. Of the few things that can kill his kind, sunlight is the least merciful of all. It’s a gruesome spectacle he has been forced to witness before. If the pain doesn't scare him so much – after not having known pain for so long – perhaps he would have welcomed that simple resolution to his meaningless life. It's not easy ramming a wooden stake through one's own heart, or decapitating oneself with a silver blade, after all. The fear of pain has always stopped him, because he knows from a distant memory that pain changes a man and the pain can cause him to regret his decision before the horrible process is completed and those few seconds of regret scares him more than anything.

With a sigh he reaches for Kai's hand and gently takes it off his chest. He scoots out of his hold and gets up from the mattress as swiftly as he can, hoping not to disturb the slumbering person. He has only managed to put on his slacks and refasten the belt buckle when the figure on the bed moves and in the dying light of the last candles, innocent brown eyes find him.

_Beautiful_ , he thinks. _No, he’s more than that. He’s ethereal._

Soobin shakes his head at himself. He shouldn't have tried sneaking out anyway. He has to bring him home safely, he can't leave him in an abandoned warehouse at the docks when it’s still pitch black outside. He knows all kinds of scum that roam the streets. He knows of more scum than most. "Get dressed," He commands. "I'm taking you home."

"Home?" The question is apparent in his eyes and the pinch of his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Home. The place where you live? I'm not leaving you here, all alone."

Kai sits up and runs a hand through his hair but he can’t undo the messiness of it. "Aren't you going to bite me?"

Soobin freezes in the process of putting on his shirt, but recovers his composure quickly and tries to brush off the probing inquiry with a snort. "What are you talking about?" He chuckles at him.

"Don't patronize me," The exotic boy shoots back. In spite of all his intensely burning heat, his gaze is ice cold and dead serious.

Seeing in those eyes that there is no point in trying to deny the truth, he admits: "I had my suspicions, but I didn't think you really knew what I am."

Kai shrugs. "I've come across more like you. I can always tell."

"How?"

"First your eyes and then I felt your cold."

Soobin nods. It seems only logical, since Kai is so hot in comparison. Although all regular people are warm and they never seem to think too much of his cold touch. "If you knew all along, why did you come with me? Are you suicidal?" His tone dips, a little judgmental. He is a hypocrite for it, but Kai doesn't need to know that.

"I don't _want_ to die," Kai speaks, with an unnerving self-awareness. "But I'm not afraid of dying and I won't avoid the risk – or even the apparent certainty of it – when I think the experience will at least be… titillating."

Soobin frowns. "You're a pretty brave one. Weird, and taking your life for granted, but brave."

"Not fearing death doesn't make me brave. Overcoming something that _does_ frighten me would be brave. But nothing frightens me."

"Why not?" he asks.

"Because everything is temporary." He shrugs again and looked away, like he has a secret he doesn't want to share.

That is unfair, so fucking unfair since Kai knows Soobin's dirty little secret, but he doesn't press on. "Get dressed," He repeats and tosses him his clothes. "We need to leave."

The young man does as instructed and gets dressed quickly, recognizing the need to be quick after glancing at his watch.

Soobin blows out the candles and when dark settles around them he takes Kai's delicate hand and guides him out of the building.

A new kind of silence settles between them, the kind that makes Soobin's mind race in search of anything to say, anything at all to disrupt the silence. But idle chitchat has never been his forte and he cringes at the thought of mentioning the weather or pointing out a homeless man minding his own business.

Kai is equally ready for the quiet to be over, but he doesn't shy away from real curiosity in order to fill the void between them. "How long have you been like this?"

"Too long." The answer is immediate.

"How did it happen?"

"The way it always happens." At Kai's sideway glance he elaborates: "One of them decided that they liked me enough to have a bite, and liked me too much to finish me off."

"You don't like me at all then?"

Soobin stops in his tracks at his flat tone, hinting at dejection and humiliation. "To bleed you dry would be a waste," He speaks firmly. "To turn you would be even worse."

"Why?"

With a sigh Soobin reaches out a hand and touches Kai's warm, pink-colored cheek. At the tender touch, the flesh flushed red, a delicious hue. He explains solemnly: "Beauty like yours is innately transient, its appeal lies in the elusive, ephemeral quality of it… The cherry blossom is beautiful because it is fleeting. Only by luck do you happen upon it at the right time; it is special. The flowers have to wither. The petals have to fall."

Kai lips part and he draws in a soft gasp.

"You don't want to be like me. You don't want to be frozen in time." He drops his hand back to his side and casts his gaze up to the sky. The dark, inky blue of the night is softening. He has only about an hour left to get home. "Come, let's find you a taxi." There isn't enough time for him to walk Kai home and then get back to his own den to burrow down for as long as the daylight would last.

He guides his guest through the streets between the warehouses, guiding him back to the activity of the city.

"I want to see you again, Soobin." Kai declares with a pitiful, pleading tone as he hurries after him.

"Maybe."

_"Please."_

Soobin sighs and stops again to face him. "We can meet a couple more times, like this. But it can't be much more. The times aren't right. People are starting to get suspicious of anyone with a nocturnal pattern. They are called 'crazy vigilantes' now, but soon enough their belief will spread and it will be dangerous. I don't want to expose myself to that and I don't want to expose you to that either. If your family starts asking questions… If your friends get worried…"

"I don't have a family. I don't have any friends. Not—" He scrunches up his face. "Not really."

"All the more reason for you to not sleep away the days to spend the nights with me. You need to make friends."

"I have _one_ friend, that's enough," Kai says. "And he won't cause any trouble. He can't."

"He _can't_?" Soobin arches his eyebrow. He has been there before with someone, a very long time ago, when he still considered himself a young undead. Friends get jealous, worried and suspicious and involve more and more people. They never fully understood what he was, but they figured out he was dangerous and he barely managed to escape their wrath as they lashed out to protect their friend.

"He's dead," The young man blurts. His eyes widen at his own slip but then shrugs it off, realizing he’s talking to a _vampire_.

Soobin frowns at him. "What do you mean? Do you mean _undead_ , do you have a friend like me?"

He shakes his head. "No. He's dead."

"He's a ghost?"

"Yes."

Soobin’s frown deepens. He looks the boy up and down.

"Why is he with you?"

Spirits cling to only one person, the person they were connected to through their death, as far as Soobin knows it’s always the person who took their life. Soobin should know, it was what bound Yeonjun to him. Yeonjun was one of his first prey. The process had been violent, lacking all sophistication and control that he had gained with age. Most spirits moves on to the afterlife right away, but a rare few can't and they linger in the spirit realm between the living and the dead. The only way for them to visit the living is to come down to the person they have bonded with, this person is their anchor to the plane of the living. Only when this person also died, do the ghosts fade away to the afterlife, without an anchor to hold onto. Yeonjun had the misfortune of being bound to an immortal being and, as the centuries turned, they became friends.

He finds it difficult to imagine that this pure, exotic flower of a boy, had taken someone's life for that ghost to be connected to him.

"I didn’t kill him.” Kai says softly. “We…. we died together."

Soobin shakes his head, rejecting the unheard-of explanation. "What nonsense are you talking about?" He balls his fist and puffs out his chest. Anger tingles in the tips of his fingers. The kid is messing with him. Obviously, he’s not dead, nor is he undead. He’s not a vampire, nor a ghost. "What the fuck do you know about dying?" He spits out angrily.

Kai reels back, his eyes shaking but again, not afraid. "No more than you. Only what my friend tells me about my past lives and deaths."

"What are you saying? You're not making any sense." Soobin groans in displeasure.

It seems that the young man starts to get frustrated with him as he’s being accused of lying. "I’m telling the truth. We died together in the Battle of Long Island, 1776. I was a commander of the British army and he was one of the American military advisors. He's been with me every lifetime since."

Soobin is certain he goes cross-eyed with disbelief. The kid is batshit crazy! "You're not dead!" He shouts, feeling resentful that the young thing wants to be so much like him that now that his plan to get Soobin to turn him has failed, he would fabricate such a lie. He grabs him by his shoulders and shakes him roughly. "Stop trying to sell me this shit! I can feel your warmth!" He presses his big hand against his chest and feels the heart in the ribcage stuttering and racing. "I can feel your heart beating!"

"I didn't say I'm dead, I said I _died_!"

"What the fuck is the difference?" He sneers.

"Hey!"

Soobin and Kai both turn their heads at the voice bellowing at them. The older man curses under his breath as he sees a group of five men walking down the street, heading towards them.

"Is he bothering you?" One of them says to Kai.

Kai shakes free from Soobin's grip, which has gone limp anyway. "I'm fine. We were just having a discussion."

The group still comes nearer.

Soobin squints his eyes at the odd objects they are carrying: glass bottles with a clear liquid – vodka or water – and branches. They wear long coats and dark scarves that partly obscures their faces. They close the distance and surround the two of them.

"What's going on, gentleman?" Soobin tries in a steady voice, feigning calmness.

"We're you two out all night?" A short one with orange hair peeking out from under his baseball cap asks. His voice is muffled by the black scarf around his neck and jaw.

"Just partying."

"At the docks?" Other challenges.

"I took him up to show him the Hangang Bridge. The top floors of these warehouses provide a great view of the city," Soobin meanders.

"And you're going home now?"

"Yes." He grabs a hold of Kai's hand, feeling his nerves in the slickness of his palm and the fluttering pulse in his wrist. "In fact, if you wouldn't mind, we would like to go now." He tries to pull Kai out of the circle of men with him but the two in front of them close ranks and block the way.

"What's the rush?"

"Please let us go," Kai pleades.

The eyes of the red softens. "Don't worry, kitten, we're not looking for trouble. We just need to check something and if all is well, you two are free to go."

Soobin steels his gaze. The man inches back but suppresses the instinct to yield to the intimidation and holds his ground.

Suddenly one of them produces a flashlight from his pocket and shines the beam right into Soobin's face. Soobin brings up his hand to shield himself from the light. As he’s distracted, Kai is yanked away from him by one of the men behind him, grabbing hold of his other arm and pulling him towards him.

"Let him go!" Soobin growls and being much stronger than the aggressor he manages to free Kai from him and pulls the young man into his own, protective embrace. "You touch him again and I'll rip your arm off."

"So?" Asks the red to the hooded man beside him, cocking his head in question.

"He's good," Concludes him softly.

"Good?" Soobin questions and he glares at the short red-head again, assuming he’s their leader. The light of the flashlight is still in his face.

"You have an interesting eye-color, sir. Amethyst is quite an unusual color."

"I'm wearing contacts," He lies. "What do you want from us?"

"We just need to check something, sir. Your friend is clear, now if we can just clear you as well, you are free to go."

"Clear me of what?" He scoffs darkly. "Are you guys one of those groups they talked about on the news? One of those vigilante groups, hunting for vampires, werewolves and fairies?" He mocks them with his laughter.

"Just vampires, sir."

He shakes his head at them, hoping the charade will convince them to leave them alone, but he has a feeling he would have to fight them off.

"As far as we've been able to observe, vampires have red eyes after they've fed, but their eyes are amethyst-colored if they haven't had blood for a while. So you see, sir, we will appreciate it if you would remove your contacts for us. Or let us check you for a pulse if removing your lenses is too much of an inconvenience."

"At this point, everything is too much of an inconvenience."

"We're very sorry, sir. But this will only take a minute." With a nod of his head he motions for one of the others to approach Soobin.

A man in a blue parka steps up to him and reaches for him with big, pale hands.

Soobin takes his hands off Kai momentarily to fend off the invader of his personal space. With lightning speed he takes hold of the grabby hands and twisted them, hearing the bones in the wrist pop before he hears the wail of the man. He kicks him back, sending him tumbling to the cold, wet ground. "You will not touch either of us."

The redhead crouches by the injured man with genuine concern and helps him up from the ground. "Did you feel it?"

"He's warm. I think he's warm," Parka-man mutters with trembling lower lip as he hold his arms against himself.

"Are you sure?"

Eager to just get away, the man confirms: "Yes, he's warm."

The warmth in his hands is nothing but a remnant of Kai's heat, but it seems like it is enough to trick the self-proclaimed vampire-hunters.

"Are we 'good'?" Soobin sneers.

"Yes. Our apologies sir," Says the red-head. "You are free to go." He motions for them to leave.

Soobin is relieved that the situation seems to be resolved and tugs Kai along with him. However, he hasn't taken more than two steps when, from the corner of his eye, he sees one of the men unscrewing the top on the bottle he’s holding and flicks the bottle in his direction. A streak of clear liquid hits him across the throat and splatters onto his exposed chest due to the undone top buttons of his dress-shirt. He cries out in agony as the water - Holy water – burns his skin.

"He's one of them!" Screeches the assailant and the others rushed to his aid. Some of them bring out switchblades from the inner pockets of their coats. He assumes the knives are pure silver. The others start whipping him with the branches. The hits don't hurt against his clothes, but when the branches touch his neck or hands, thousands of small thorns cut into his skin. The pain catches him off guard and allows the others the opportunity to slash at him with their knives. The blades cut through his clothes and skin and leave bloodless wounds that he knows would heal quickly, but turn into hideous scars.

"Stop it!" Kai screams as he defends him, a cold-blooded monster, by tackling them with complete disregard for his own safety.

"He's dangerous!" Says one of the big men as he pushes the smaller one to the ground.

Seeing Kai lands on the cold streets infuriates Soobin and when one of the bigger men, maybe a hitman, climbs on top of the boy to keep him pinned down and out of the way, rage overcomes him and the pain fades away. He grabs the end of the thorny branch that’s hitting him and pulls it out of the grip of the man wielding it, even though it stings in his palm. He stops the attack of another by grabbing the hand holding the silver blade and roughly pulling the man towards him. He loses his balance and stumbles against him. Now that he’s within his reach, Soobin closes his hand around his throat, coming close to choking the life out of him before tossing him aside like he’s a lightweight ragdoll, not a nearly two hundred pound man.

The red charges at him, clutching a carefully carved, wooden stake.

Kai struggles against the man holding him down, not fazed by the threat of the silver knife. He wraps his legs around him and contorts his body to force them to switch positions, coming close to overpowering the man that is twice the size of him.

Soobin barely manages to evade the attack of the red. The sharp end of the stake slices along his abdomen, further ripping his shirt. He snatches the stake out of his hand and holding onto the sharp end he uses it as a club to beat the red-haired man against his back. He beats him again and again, until he’s on the ground, screaming, trying to crawl away from him, but Soobin just stalks after him. He easily thwarts the half-hearted attacks of the others, who finally seem to realize they don't stand a chance. The vampire plants his foot on the red's back, forcing him flat onto the ground. He raises the piece of wood over his head and is tempted to crack his skull open with it. He swings his weapon and the wooden stake fractures into small pieces, splinters flying off it, when he hits it against the asphalt right by the man's head. He steps back and kicks him once against his side for good measure. He hopes that from then on they will be discouraged to try to take on another being like him. They might not all be as strong as him, but sooner or later they will run into one who could annihilate them, like he can, and that would be bad for everyone involved.

The red scrambles to his feet and starts running, calling back to his mates: "Let's go! Let's get out of here!"

Soobin watches four of them run away and then turns back. He freezes when he spots Kai lying prone on the ground. The big man that has attacked him, that has seemed to lose the upper hand to him, stands over him. His face is whiter than Soobin's. His eyes are wide and scared as he meets his amethyst gaze. The silver knife in his hand is stained red. He drops it to the ground and a spatter of blood, and raindrops from the puddle, flows up.

The strong, metallic scent of blood in the aftermath of the fight made his stomach curl.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry," Whimpers the man. He casts one last look down at the dying boy on the ground and runs his hand through his hair, not realizing he’s leaving a streak of blood across his forehead. "I'm sorry. Oh God, I'm so sorry," He keeps saying. He looks at Soobin again, in fear and then sprints away, following his friends.

Soobin lets him pass him. He feels his body deflate at the sight of the young man lying in the middle of the street, his pale, beautiful hand covering the wound high up in his abdomen. Blood seeps through the opening between his fingers and the stain on his shirt grows bigger and bigger. His breaths are sharp, uneven and uncontrolled. He coughs and blood sputters out of his mouth.

The vampire takes a step back. The smell is… intoxicating, but he feels wrought with shame for entertaining the thought of how delicious the thick, dark blood would taste on his tongue.

Kai rolls his head to the side and his innocent brown eyes found him.

"Soobin," He pleads.

Soobin walks up to him slowly, giving himself time to get used to the smell and not be overpowered by it as he gets closer and it fills his nose. He kneels by him and cradles the back of Kai's head in his palm. He thumbs the soft hair, messy from the night they had shared. He stares into the brown orbs, recognizing the resignation in them. He covers Kai's hand in his, ignoring the warmth of the blood. "No. No." He repeats the words over and over like a broken cassette.

He can turn him. He can bite him and turn him. But will that save him, truly?

"I'm not afraid of dying, Soobin." Kai whispers. "The cherry blossom will return next spring. I will too."

"You're talking crazy," Soobin chastises him, but then a sudden sob escapes him and he stares in shock at a tear that falls from his eye and lands on Kai's cheek.

He hasn’t cried in centuries. Hasn’t feel this choked up in decades. Hasn’t hated himself more than he hates himself at this moment.

"Come find me when I'm of age," Kai says with a smile, blood on the corner of his lips. But he’s still beautiful. More than anything in this cruel world. More than anything he had loved, once. "Come find me. Show me how to dance again, Soobin."

Soobin still doesn't understand what the young man is alluding at. Everything feels numb. He feels numb.

Kai offers a smile in response to Soobin's blank expression. A beautiful smile he doesn’t think he can ever forget, even if the boy is no longer with him.

Soobin pulls back his hand when the wound in Kai's torso starts to smolder and white-hot embers are pulled up by the wind. The flesh blackens to coal and then starts to fall apart, spreading out from the wound. With a flash, the body is reduced to ash and cinders and the wind blows away everything but the handful that Soobin reaches for. A fiery, winged shape of a rose into the cold sky where it evaporates into a puff of white smoke.

He opens his hand and watches the grey dust slips between his fingers and gets scattered like the rest.

The realization hits him. He’s heard of rumors and whispers and farfetched news reports of 'Spontaneous Human Combustion' but had never believed there’s any truth to these tales, even though he is a supernatural being himself, even though his best friend is a _ghost_ of all things.

They are real.

"He's a phoenix." He breathes out.

Soobin wipes away the wet trail of the single tear that has escaped him and gets up from the ground.

_He’s still alive_ , he thinks. _I can see him again._

It’s not easy, nothing is. But he will do anything to feel that warmth again, even it means he has to chase him to the end of the world. Surely Yeonjun can find Kai’s little ghost friend for him, who is stuck in the spirit realm much like him, bound to an immortal soul. The ghost can help him find his phoenix once more.

_I can feel him again._

He notices the orange glow spreading across the expanse of sky like wildfire and knows it’s too late to head home. Instead, he finds safety in the damp basement of one of the warehouses.

Kai's warmth leaves his body and too soon he’s cold once more. Soobin would have to wait for him to mature again, but two decades of waiting are nothing for him, especially when he realizes he might have been waiting for someone like Kai his entire undead-life; nearly eight centuries.

Although the guilt of being responsible for Kai's latest death will wreck him until they would meet again, for the first time since too long, he has something to look forward to. Soobin will get to meet Kai over and over, enjoy his warmth, his youth, his boldness and experience the world through his brand-new eyes for eternity. There will be no end of their tale, and he takes comfort of it; of the fact that he will no longer be lonely.

Maybe this time around, Soobin can learn to live again, with his beloved by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> First of all I want to say thank you to all of you who left kudos and comments on my previous sookai fic. I'm sorry that I couldn't reply to all of you one by one, but do know that your nice comments warmed my heart.
> 
> Because there’s so many of you who requested it, I'm back with a new sookai fic! This is another fantasy-themed fic (because I just love writing them), which is long as hell, but I do hope you enjoyed this fic as you did with Inescapable.
> 
> I think it’s obvious enough that sookai is my favorite txt pairing so you can expect more sookai fics from me in the future! Not that I don’t like other txt ships but sookai is just... special. And yes I’m a shooter for sub bottom Huening Kai :p He’s just too cute and pure?? I really can’t imagine him topping anyone he’s a total babie :(
> 
> Well before this gets too long, thanks for reading! Please tell me your thoughts after you finished, I would love to hear more from you guys :)


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